Per Fabrica Ad Astra aims to enhance the technical complexity and realism of Minecraft to enable more sophisticated modeling of the modern industrial economy, including mineral extraction, agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation. Eventually, gameplay will extend to worlds beyond Earth. Its broader aim is to help realize the potential of Minecraft in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education. Since reality is often stranger and more interesting than fiction, many of the ideas are directly inspired by nature and actual science. Of course, gameplay takes precedence over realism, because if no one plays, no one learns.

Geologica:

Geologica adds realistic and interesting geology to Minecraft, with the goal of enhancing the mining experience. It defines new types of rocks and minerals and relies on the Custom Ore Generator mod to place them in the world in a way that is totally configurable. Vanilla stone is completely replaced by the new types of rocks. Mineral deposits, including metal ores and industrial minerals, spawn in psuedo-realistic veins and clouds, accoding to the type of rock and, often, the biome. Since Geologica is implemented on top of CustomOreGen (COG), it is possible to override every aspect of its generation using the standard COG mechanisms.

Geologica adds:

23 types of rock, each with corresponding stone, cobble, brick, stone/cobble/brick slab and cobble/brick wall blocks. Limestone, granite and marble also have cobble/brick stair blocks. Cobble blocks may be smelted to stone. Existing stone/cobble/brick recipes are automatically ore-dictified to support the new rock types.

35 types of metal ore, found in various types of deposits, in stone, sand or clay form.